China’s military intelligence services are using Western professional networking sites and online job platforms to target Five Eyes nationals with access to sensitive information, the intelligence agencies of the partnership have warned, the UK Defence Journal understands.
The warning was set out in a joint bulletin, Safeguarding Our Secrets, published on 3 June 2026 by ASIO of Australia, Canada’s CSIS, the FBI in the United States, MI5 in the UK and New Zealand’s NZSIS. According to the agencies, intelligence officers or their affiliates pose as employees of private consultancies, think tanks or human resources firms and place online job advertisements for foreign policy and defence analysts, before pressuring successful candidates to provide non-public information for unspecified clients linked to the Chinese government. The ultimate aim, the bulletin says, is to acquire privileged military, political and economic intelligence that gives China a strategic and tactical advantage over the Five Eyes.
The agencies set out who is most at risk, naming security clearance holders specialising in defence, foreign affairs and security and intelligence; military personnel, including those stationed in the Indo-Pacific with knowledge of regional capabilities and activities; and people with indirect or peripheral access to government information, such as academics, journalists, freelance writers and think tank employees, or anyone with links to the defence, security, policy and economic sectors.
The bulletin describes the recruitment as running through several stages, it begins with recruiters posting job advertisements on networking and freelance platforms including LinkedIn, Indeed and Upwork, with resumes then ranked by how likely the applicant is to have access to sensitive information. Where interviews are held, they take place virtually, with the recruiter concealing their identity and beginning to probe applicants about access to government contacts; military applicants may be asked about their roles, unit activities, home base or naval vessel.
Candidates are then asked to write a trial report on a subject such as China’s bilateral relations, the Indo-Pacific and related defence issues, or international trade. For subsequent reports, the agencies say, recruits are told the client requires more privileged information, and at some point the conversation is typically moved to a more secure platform such as an encrypted messaging application. Payment for each report ranges from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, with more money offered for increasingly sensitive material, made through services including PayPal, Payoneer, Zelle, Skrill, Wise, Western Union, e-transfer and cryptocurrency, often from an account belonging to someone the recruit has never dealt with. Throughout, the bulletin says, the intelligence officers pose as recruiters or consultants representing fake but often legitimate-looking cover companies claiming to be based in countries other than China.
The agencies stress that the danger does not depend on a target holding classified material. Even unclassified information on government policy, or on military strategy, capabilities and installations, can be combined with more sensitive reporting to build a comprehensive operational picture, the bulletin says, and certain data can place the lives of frontline personnel at risk, weaken economic prosperity and enable interference in democratic processes.
Applicants who hand over resumes and other personal details also risk compromising their own privacy.
The bulletin warns that those who disclose sensitive or classified information without authorisation could face consequences including prosecution under national laws such as those covering espionage. The Five Eyes agencies say they have already identified individuals who have carried out such activities, leading to criminal prosecutions, job losses and the revocation of security clearances. MI5 directed those seeking advice to guidance from the National Protective Security Authority, titled Applicant Beware and published in October 2025.
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George and Co. Can you not get rid of these high earning prats?
$17,240 in four weeks, its not even in Sterling for Christ’s sake.
All these goings on and they’ve given the okay to the new super embassy in London?! So its likely to get worse. At least it will be giving all the UKs security agencies lots of practice to counter all these threats, expose them and flush them out.
If they’re closing several other properties, in theory, less to watch full time.
The cable thing I think was overplayed. Cables can be moved, data rerouted.
There might well be a tapping centre in the basement, hell, there’s probably one if those I several of our own embassies.
Ever looked up on the roof of US and UK Embassies?
This website has become such a complete joke.
Do you think ?
Personally I just normally scroll through all the “Jokes”.
Maybe you should contact George and tell him 🤔
The halfwit got a job painting white lines down the middle of the road. First day he painted three miles. Second day, one mile. Third day, a hundred yards. His foreman asked what was wrong. “I keep getting further from the tin,” he said.
Cool story, maybe you can post more humour, not just this “One Off” ? 😁
Seems a bit of a waste setting up a new account otherwise 🤔
The halfwit read that most accidents occur within 5 miles from home. So he sold-up and moved 6 miles away.
Good, no need for you to frequent it?
You never say anything positive, so what’s the agenda?
He/It Is just another name used to “Play the game”.
I know….. you think I think too much !!!!😁
I see him as a MAGA American getting off with tissues out on how powerful the US is and how weak Great Britain has now become.
I’ll take it, as my country has a greater history than the US.
Empires fall, geopolitics change.
The US is already declining compared to Pax Britannia.
If he’s not, Chinese, Russian, Iranian, sod with a keyboard in Islington, I don’t really care, I’ll reply to the persona infront of me.
How many guises have you had?
One.
Halfwit.
I use It on other sites but the TVR one was where I was Christened !
Sorry 😁
Starmer and Co are Chicom puppets. You do not allow enemies access to your infrastructure, you do not allow communist takeover of your country by becoming dependent on imports.
Then all of the far left are Fabians, ie communist. Given the Nowak incident, and all of the others over the past few years? All the far left can do is shout far right. Then act surprised when people take to the streets.
I am genuine when I say I am worried for our country, its future and the majority of people who just want to be left alone. Politicians are responsible for this, the blame lies with them. Remember Rumania?
Agreed.
Loving how the uni parties have turned on Farage for pointing out what millions are feeling and thinking.
We then had the BBC doing their usual bias hatchet job altering hos words, like Panorana with Trump.
Last night, an apology on Newsnight.
Point is, mud is thrown for an agenda, job done.
Anyone actually looked up the definition of what”cold rage” means? I have.
Two tier, definitely. The actions of the police were clear, the racist accusation was prioritised over an injured man saying he was stabbed and couldn’t breathe, 7 times apparently, as I refuse to watch it to confirm that detail.
Then you have the lunatic yobs of the far right out rioting, and the agenda and focus shifts to them.
Further, then the double standards!
George Floyd, convicted long term criminal, arrested and died after being treated appallingly. Riots, rage, statues toppled, politicians all jumping on the bandwagon, from Starmer taking the knee to Mayor Khan tweeting that the riots and rage are fully understandable.
White lad, no criminal. Noooooo, we all must remain very calm, no taking the knee, no admitting that the guidelines issued to police on ideological grounds of DEI are at fault.
And when people point out the inconsistency and complain, THEY’RE the problem!
Jesus Christ…….makes me angry.
And people scratch their heads in wonder at why Reform are growing in popularity.
Back to the subject matter, are Starmer and Co any more Chinese puppets than the Tories were? And the Tories copied up to Russian money as well until Ukraine. Are Plaid, the SNP, the Greens, and the far left also not Russian puppets, wanting unilateral disarmanent yet quite happy for other nations to keep nukes. And of course it’s Farage whose the Russian sympathiser! Wonderful, looks like all of them are.
People have woken up.
Just my thoughts, no doubt I’ll be shot down shortly.
Mate you sum it up perfectly. No decent person would shoot you down for stating the truth. And yes, tories and the rest of the political dross are as bad as the designer commies. I believe we will lurch to the right because British people are socially conservative by nature. Getting rid of DEI is a priority imo as it is a cancer. Extremism flourishing is not good for any country. However if it’s going to bring changes? Fine by me. As for the far left? I hate them as much as I hate Provoes and any other extremist filth.
Well see, there are posters here with their own agendas.
It’s a shame as the victims Dad didn’t want the situation politicised. That I’m afraid was inevitable, you cannot allow one but suppress the other, that only fuels the resentment and the feeling of a two tier system.
I share your feelings regards the far left, though I don’t hate, I fear, and I pity them.
I hate. Evil doctrine. Then l have no tolerance for communism, it’s killed more people than anything apart from fascism. Come to think of it, both very similar doctrines.
@John
While I agree with the sentiment of your post, factually it is incorrect.
Stalin, through the Gulag system, forced collectivisation, the Ukrainian Holodomor, and the Great Purge, killed more people than Hitler. In fact the Soviet Communist/Socialist regime killed more Soviet citizens than the Nazis did. Stalin set monthly quotas of executions for his regional governors. Failure to meet quotas resulted in the Gulag or execution.
As for Mao Zedong, he is responsible for an estimated 80 million deaths. The Great Leap Forward (1958–62) alone caused a death toll of an estimated 55 million. The Cultural Revolution added millions more through persecution, execution, and forced labour. That’s more than twice that of Hitler and Stalin combined.
If asked who is the most evil man in history, most people would say Hitler and the Nazis. If asked why, most of them would say because of the great number of people killed.
By that metric alone he is the 3rd most evil man. The first and second are Socialists.
We were never taught that at school.
I do think their is a problem with the Sovereignty of Parliament. There doesn’t seem to be any checks and balances any more, as those within Government seem to be no longer accountable, and when found out of doing wrong, they are not sacked, but sit on the back benches for a while before looking to get a job in Government again, when they think everyone has forgotten or forgiven their misdeeds. It’s like they’re marking their own homework. This needs to change!
There used to be a saying: “That there is no honour amongst thieves”, perhaps it should also be used for politicians?
I feel there needs to be a body who work for the Crown and not the Cabinet Office, making sure politicians are held to account. This would also include investigating so called donations and MPs bank accounts. Looking for coercion, bribes and corruption. Once MPs become accountable and are seen to be, perhaps the public will start having better faith in them. But also we start getting MPs with a bit of backbone again, not these simpering ditherers and quizlings.
A great idea.
This has been going on for some time. China has picked up a great deal of useful training skills in the process, particularly pilots we heard about recently but also aircraft carrier digital C2 experienced Ops Room staff for sure and probably much else. Money and Chinese ‘wives’ appear to be the main attraction…
Difficult to know how to put a stop to it.
It’s called treason.
And therein lies the problem:
‘Treason is the crime of betraying one’s sovereign or country. In a legal context, it typically involves…assisting a nation’s enemies.’
China has not been classified as an enemy.
Political expediency. All communism is the enemy to me.
While I agree with the sentiment of your post, factually it is incorrect.
Stalin, through the Gulag system, forced collectivisation, the Ukrainian Holodomor, and the Great Purge, killed more people than Hitler. In fact the Soviet Communist/Socialist regime killed more Soviet citizens than the Nazis did. Stalin set monthly quotas of executions for his regional governors. Failure to meet quotas resulted in the Gulag or execution.
As for Mao Zedong, he is responsible for an estimated 80 million deaths. The Great Leap Forward (1958–62) alone caused a death toll of an estimated 55 million. The Cultural Revolution added millions more through persecution, execution, and forced labour. That’s more than twice that of Hitler and Stalin combined.
If asked who is the most evil man in history, most people would say Hitler and the Nazis. If asked why, most of them would say because of the great number of people killed.
By that metric alone he is the 3rd most evil man. The first and second are Socialists.
We were never taught that at school.
Apologies. Misplaced post. Meant as a response to John above.
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